Colapinto’s ‘huge advantage’ in Alpine race ‘called dollars’

Seemingly handed a two-race reprieve as Formula 1 heads into the summer break, Christian Danner claims Franco Colapinto’s advantage over Jack Doohan for the Alpine seat is “called dollars”.

Last August, Alpine locked in its driver line-up for the F1 2025 championship when the team announced that reserve driver Doohan would partner Pierre Gasly.

Franco Colapinto’s race seat ‘has nothing to do with the sport’

Less than five months later, his race seat was under threat when Alpine signed 2024 super sub Colapinto as a reserve driver, Alpine executive director Flavio Briatore saying the Argentine driver was “among the best young talents in motorsport”.

Briatore added: “We have an eye on our future and his signing means we have a great pool of young drivers to call upon.”

Six races into the new season, the future arrived.

Doohan was dropped after failing to score a single point and was replaced by Colapinto on a five-race audition. Although he also has not managed to get off the mark, this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix marks his seventh race in the A525.

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Danner claims his continued presence in the car, despite no notable uptick over Doohan, is down to money.

“I almost liked Doohan better because he wasn’t welcomed quite as warmly by the team – let’s put it this way,” the former F1 driver told sport.de. “At Alpine, he went from the frying pan into the fire.

“A huge advantage on the part of Colapinto, and that’s called dollars.

“A chunk of money and the potential of an Argentine Grand Prix depend on him. It has nothing to do with the sport.”

Colapinto brings with him huge sponsorship from Argentina, which increased last month when he struck a personal sponsorship deal with Claro, a telecommunications company under the umbrella of Carlos Slim-owned América Móvil.

But what Alpine also need from him are points.

The 22-year-old has a best result in his six races of thirteenth, which he twice achieved in Monaco and Canada, matching Doohan’s top result.

Colapinto, though, has hinted that he will remain in the car for at least the next two race weekends before F1 grinds to a halt after Hungary for the summer break.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Colapinto said: “It has been a welcome two-week break after Silverstone. Reflecting on that weekend, it was one of both highs and lows for the team

“On my side of the garage, it was disappointing to be unable to start the race on Sunday, especially considering the opportunities, which were available for those further back.

“However, the weekend was not without its learnings, and we still took lots away from it. We debriefed from the weekend and spent some time at the factory preparing for the final two races before the summer break.

“We will be looking to maximise the next two weekends and start the second half of the season off on a positive note.”

Whether that’s the end of the road for Colapinto remains to be seen as PlanetF1.com understands from sources close to the situation that Alpine have held positive talks with Mercedes reserve driver and 10-time Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas.

But according to Gasly, it’s all just noise.

“I don’t think that’s the case,” he told the Formula 1 website. “I think it’s a lot of noise. There will always be noise, especially considering what happened earlier in the year, but I think at the end of the day we should just focus on the work ahead.”

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